You Know Where to Find Me
by Raina1
Summary: Death comes to all of us and Yugi is no different but what he discovers at the moment of that sad truth will bring him joy for an eternity.


**Disclaimer: **_YuGiOh and its characters are the creation of Kazuki Takahashi. No infringement upon existing copyrights is intended. This story is written purely for the enjoyment of the author and for the fans of YuGiOh. __If you squint, you'll see the Roswell reference._

**Author's Note**: _I have come out of my retirement from writing fan fiction to bring you this story. It's just something to help relieve me of my struggles with my current work. This is my first time writing for the YuGiOh fandom. I will be using the Japanese names, as the unedited Japanese original anime is what I've seen. Bit of a sappy fic. _

**Timeline: **_Post-series. Five years have passed_.

* * *

**You Know Where to Find Me**

By Raina1

* * *

"_It begins where it ends... In nothingness. A nightmare born from deepest fears, coming to me unguarded. Whispering images unlocked from time and distance. A soul unbound - touched by others but never held. On a course charted by some unseen hand. The journey ahead promising no more than my past reflecting back upon me. Until at last, I reach the end. Facing a truth I can no longer deny. Alone, as ever."_  
**–Dana Scully, The X-Files**

***

He doesn't remember how it happens, or even what it feels like, but he remembers what he sees after it's over. There's a kind of dream-like quality to it, because it's a sight he's seen before. It's likely why when he suddenly finds himself in the position again, he's probably the first soul to know right away why he would be looking down at himself all of a sudden, and for all that it implies.

But a cold fear licks through him because he knows what it will mean, _does_ mean, this time. There hasn't been a switch with the Millennium Puzzle: that disappeared along with the other Millennium items down into the darkness five years ago. He isn't in Egypt, he isn't standing in front of a collapsed tomb, and he definitely isn't time-sharing his body with an ancient Pharaoh anymore. He's on a city street in Domino City. He's lying in the middle of an intersection, surrounded by cordoned off yellow tape, sirens, policeman, and ambulances while by-standers look on anxiously from the sidewalks. The pale face he looks down upon is lifeless and staring into the sky as if astonished at its own mortality. Rivers of crimson have poured from its ears and nose and pool beneath its crazy hair. It's the saddest sight he thinks he has ever seen and the most gruesome. There is nothing that he can remember that can compare to the sight of looking upon his own lifeless body. A faint smirk twitches at the corner of Yugi's mouth. Funny. He cannot even remember the vehicle hitting him. He only remembers a sort of dreamy floating sensation, like being in a bubble bath, or the spreading tingle of a good glass of wine.

Odd, that no one has covered him up yet, he observes with an almost detached fascination. You'd think they'd have used some kind of tarp or something.

He shifts his attention to the EMT that had tried to revive him, a young woman who looks to be barely out of high school. She wipes fruitlessly at the sticky sweat on her forehead with the back of her wrist. Her surgical gloves are covered with his blood from where she had moved his head to ascertain the severity of his wounds in the last flickering embers of his life. He remembers staring up at her only seconds ago, her lips forming words that steadily echoed into a brief nothingness. Now he stands next to her, gazing at the top of her sunny blonde hair. When she lifts her head, he can finally see her face again. Her blue eyes are tired, distant, almost as unseeing as the dead ones on the body beside her. Her countenance is spent and sad because she's seen too many hit-and-runs that she was too late to save. Too many to feel guilty about anymore, yet not enough to be able to bear the burden without the inevitable regret. Yugi wants to tell her that it's okay but he knows she cannot hear him.

He watches as she reaches over the face of Yugi's body and closes the dull purple eyes, cutting them off from the forever of the blue canvas above them. He tells himself he doesn't mind. The unseeing gaze was starting to creep him out anyway.

A male EMT emerges from the din of the crowd and approaches. Yugi faintly recognizes him as someone he went to high school with but never spoke to. He regrets it, for he remembers this boy had kind eyes, and even now as a fully-grown man he has not lost them. He tells her they have to go now there's nothing more that can be done. The coroner will be by soon. Quietly the woman nods and stands. Her body language is reluctant but her expression is resigned. Together they head back toward the ambulance passing two other men who approach with a stretcher and a body bag.

"You know who that is don't you?" one of them says to the other.

"No, who?"

"Yugi Mutou." At the other's uncomprehending stare, he elaborates. "He's the top card game duelist in the world. They call him the Game King."

"Not anymore."

"Yeah. Damn shame. Heard he was a really nice guy too. I feel bad for his family."

Yugi closes his eyes. He feels bad for his family too… and his friends. He wants to cry, so desperately he wants to cry. Yet it's as if he has lost all of his tears before they could be shed. Instead he feels a knot in the center of his being. It's strange because the knot is the only thing he can feel. He can't sense his hands or his feet. He can't feel the air against his skin or the sun on his face. Yet he feels this knot, a rigid ball rife with tension and near-cold pain, and he doesn't understand.

While he still can, he gazes down at the face of the young man who had once been Yugi Mutou, Kame Game shop co-owner, college student, avid gamer, now dead hit-and-run victim between the street he went to have coffee on and the Black Crown. His face is bloody but peaceful, as if he has only fallen asleep. He is glad he looks peaceful, for it contrasts against the violent manner of his death.

The MEs methodically lift and pack Yugi's former abode into the body bag. They are efficient, emotionless, and procedural. This is their job. They feel nothing for what they are doing.

"Wait! Excuse me! Stop!"

A familiar young man with a black ponytail and striking green eyes is shoving through the crowd. He swiftly ducks under the yellow tape and gives brief chase to the two medical examiners. He halts when he sees the zipped up body bag. Yugi can see his face, a mixture of horror and denial. For a moment he stands frozen, silently, unconsciously shaking his head. But then he moves, he reaches out and unzips the bag before either ME can stop him. When he confirms what he suspects, his knees buckle.

"Oh my god. I just had coffee with him not ten… not five minutes ago! No… You can't be dead, Yugi, you can't be!"The young man suddenly grabs the edge of the stretcher, shouting down at the body as if he could still hear him. It's hard to tell what he's saying now it's lost in his sobs running together with the black streaks of eyeliner down his face. He can no longer bear to look and turns from the MEs, staggering away, catching the hood of a parked car for balance. Although Yugi knows his friend cannot hear him, he goes to his side, invisible hands outstretched to the grieving gamer, wanting to touch, and knowing he never can.

_Otogi,_ he tries to speak to him and fails because he cannot, _I'm so sorry. I wish you could hear me._

Otogi palms at his eyes as he fishes out his mobile and presses a number. As he waits for the pick up, he sits on the hood of the car, unable to stand anymore.

"Jounouchi… oh god man, I wish I didn't have to be the one to… Oh god…There was a car accident…I... No, I didn't see it but I came back and… he's dead. Yugi's dead. No! I'm not bullshitting you! Why would I do that?! Would you just listen? I didn't see it happen but I just… we had coffee… I was heading back to the shop and then I heard… and then I saw… Just get down here, man. No, oh god, don't bring Anzu, don't let her see him…"

Yugi cannot watch or listen to Otogi anymore. _I can't help you, I can't tell you that I'm okay, that I'm right here, and god I'm sorry you had to see me like that._ He hopes the others don't see him. He hopes Otogi's nightmares are the only ones he haunts.

**

* * *

Yugi wants to go home but he doesn't. He does not want to see his mother and what her face looks like after the world has ended. He does not want to see his grandfather age ten more years in a single day. His no longer beating heart cannot bear the image of Anzu's tears; nor can he stand picturing how Jounouchi will handle his grief, he only prays that Shizuka and Honda are both nearby and are still strong enough to handle it for him.

If they can handle their own.

Most of all, Yugi doesn't want to see them because they will remind him of what he already knows. They will make real for him what he cannot accept right now, and since he is not ready, he will not go to them.

So he drifts. He has no corporeality so the world around him does not resist as he moves through the city. Neon lights and blaring sirens, people talking, playing, dueling, crying, loving, laughing, _living_… Yugi grits his teeth together. It's too much to bear… much too much to bear. So he turns and he leaves the city behind, as far as he can go. He cannot stand to watch life be lived without him. It surprises him that he reaches open country so quickly and easily, but perhaps the advantage of being dead disposes of petty things like the physics of distance and time.

He finds a grassy hilltop where the breeze is quieter than breathing. The stirrings of the flowers around him shiver like so many butterflies flapping their wings. He lies down and allows his mind to drift and recede into a peaceful void. If heaven on earth exists, he surmises, I must have found it. I am here.

But then his eyes open and he sits up. The knot is getting worse and he feels afraid suddenly. He draws himself together and peers around. Nothing. The fields beyond are silent beyond the whisper of the breeze, yet... Yugi shudders and draws in on himself. What is this feeling? Why is he so unnerved?

_I'm lost. I'm supposed to go somewhere and I'm not going anywhere. I'm lost._

Yugi stares up into the sun. For the first time, it doesn't hurt to look into its rays, into its power, because he no longer has a physical body. There is no danger of going blind. It's beautiful… more beautiful than he could have imagined the sun ever being. He smiles and reaches his hands out to the bright orb burning above, inviting, imploring it with his fingertips.

EventuallyYugi lowers his arms, slowly. The joy is gone. His expression reflects his emptiness. The betrayal… the confusion. He softly punches the earth, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. The knot tightens intolerably and he barely manages to reign in a sob.

Is this it then? Is… is _this_ what I lost when I won the Ceremonial Duel? Whoever loses gets to go to the afterlife but whoever wins gets to walk the earth forever? Is that supposed to be a prize? Am I supposed to _like_ this?

_I don't want immortality! I never did! This isn't the card I played!_

But I did, he struggles to admit it. I did and I accept. Even if this isn't a direct result of the duel, maybe it's better this way. I wouldn't have wanted this for Atemu.

_I wouldn't have wanted it for you either, aibou!_

He can almost hear his friend protesting this in his passionate, regal voice, and he smiles, comforted and saddened by the thought at the same time. He misses his conversations with the former Pharaoh. They had shared a body and a mind once, after all, and everything else in between. Even five years later, he sometimes reached for the pendent that was no longer there around his neck. It had been bliss to have someone like Atemu in his life even for so short of a time. None of his friends had known the Pharaoh the way he had and he considered it a blessing to have held that honor alone.

But… he makes no illusions that he will ever see Atemu again. Not even now that he has passed on himself. There are certain places in eternity reserved only for the greatest of heroes and Yugi is surer than his own ability to beat his opponent at Duel Monsters he and Atemu will never be able to share the same eternity. It would have been nice, he thinks wistfully and amends, more than nice, to have been able to have that. But we don't belong together. We never did.

Yugi stands up and brushes at his pants, which is laughable, because of his incorporeal state he isn't able to touch anything.

Turning, he points himself back at the city and steels his will against his fear. He doesn't want to do this but something in him tells him he must. _I'll regret it forever if I don't. _

**

* * *

Yugi's funeral is a circus. It's the best description for it he can come up with because to call it a zoo would have been an understatement. There are too many people there, too many faces that do not belong, too many tears that are being shed over the idea and image of his once-famous life as it used to be, rather than for the man and person that he truly was. Few people had really known Yugi Mutou and he would have preferred to have only those people there. They _are_ there, of course, yet he can see that they are not there. Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, Shizuka, Otogi, Bakura, Grandpa, his mother… None of them are truly there, standing under the ridiculously bright sunshine in their dark funeral garb. Kaiba, always being the one to do one better, trumps all by actually not being there at all. Mokuba does attend, on his own, with a nameless bodyguard at his side. He stays for a few brief moments, gazing at the casket, and waits for it to be put into the ground before he stands and leaves quickly. Yugi watches the teenager cry silently in the backseat of his limousine, his head lowered, his thick bangs falling forward to hide his face.

"Seto said not to come. I know why. I can't do this."

_It's okay, Mokuba_, Yugi reassures him soundlessly through the window of the car. _You showed up and you tried. It's all I care about._

The circus abates, passes, and then disappears. The tears dry, the meaningless condolences fall silent. One by one people walk away or get into their cars. The news cameras pack up their wires and mics and vans and go away finally thank god. The priest closes his book and retreats, his solemn duty to the dead having been said and done. The cluster of black bodies gives way to the cemetery green and the sudden floral explosion spilling around the Mutou family plot. Teddy bears, ribbons, flowers, and playing cards have been left behind surrounding his brand new limestone gravestone in what looks to Yugi like a macabre version of an outdoor shrine. He does not doubt elsewhere in Domino in a certain intersection there also lies another construction of a shrine on the very spot in which he had died. So fitting, that in death he also has two resting places, as his body had once had two souls.

His friends and family are the only ones who do not leave immediately. They remain standing around the six-foot hole in the earth, looking down at the ivory-white coffin covered with a pile of white roses. No one is speaking.

Jounouchi has one arm over the shoulder of his sister, who cries piteously into a handkerchief. Yugi goes up to her and looks up into her tearstained face, blotchy and red with grief. Small strands of her ginger colored hair stick to her neck where the tears have made it damp and sticky. Yugi sighs quietly, shaking his head slowly. He regrets never having told Jounouchi about his dating Shizuka a few years ago. It was the only time in his life he had not been honest with his best friend, though what he had had to fear in keeping their relationship secret, Yugi cannot honestly justify. Jounouchi was – is- overly protective of Shizuka but he would not have minded Yugi's interest in her.

He would have, Yugi rebukes himself with unmoving conviction. If he had known she had slept with me, he _would_ have minded. I couldn't bear having to face him and in knowing that, I said nothing. Now it's too late to fix it, he fills with anguish and despairs; it's too late to fix _anything_.

Yugi touches an invisible hand to her cheek. Shizuka's eyes rise briefly and he hesitates, hoping foolishly, yet when they close again to fight off more tears, his hopes crash again.

He looks to Jounouchi, staring vacantly at the small coffin containing the body of his best friend. There are no tears on his face, only a quiescent regality. Jounouchi wears his acceptance of where he is and what is happening like a mantle on his shoulders. He has always been the strong one, the rock for Shizuka. Jounouchi is always the leader when there is no leader, the hard ass when a hard ass is needed, the guts and grit and courage of the group. The kind of guy you picked to save the world with. Yugi aches to speak to him, to seize him and wrestle around with him like they used to do in high school, when they were just two stupid dorks with nothing but time and games on their minds.

_We were such idiots back then_, he tells the expressionless face of his best friend, looking fondly upon the now grown man who is a rising star with a gaming reputation as great as what Yugi left behind. _But the best part of that was we got to be idiots _together_. You're my brother, Jounouchi, and you always will be. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you, and I'm sorry I didn't get to tell you that to your face. Maybe you already know… but I would have liked to have said it. There's so much more I wish we could have done together. I never thanked you for everything you've done for me. Please don't ever change._

Honda stands beside Jounouchi. He is the only one who showed up for the funeral wearing a military uniform. His face is calm and his composure is strong; a slight furrow between his eyebrows is the only sign of what the strain of holding back tears is doing to him. He has been to war so he's seen death, he knows what it is, and knows how to deal. Yet from the pain radiating off him, Yugi can see this is the last funeral he ever wanted to have to attend. This is a death he never wanted to have to see.

Yugi is proud of Honda. In his eyes, Honda is the true essence of the everyday hero. When things were at their most crazy, Honda could be counted on to grab everyone and pull them together, and at times be the voice of reason when sanity was no longer an option. Honda put it on the line without needing to be asked, without expecting thanks in return. He's a lot like Jounouchi in that way.

Anzu is the hardest for Yugi to look at… for so much with her is what never was and almost could have been. Until the accident, they had been circling around one another, going on tentative dates, going in for cautious touches, glances, and conversations. Yugi curses they waited so long to try… curses at hurting her again in the same way he'd had to so many years ago.

_I'm always taking away the men you love aren't I? _Yugi murmurs, forcing himself to watch Anzu as she openly cries while holding onto his mother to support her as the older woman also weeps_. You're the first real friend that I ever had before I even knew what it meant, the first girl I liked even before I liked girls. I wanted us to be something so much for so long and now… now that chance is gone. It's gone because I didn't look where I was going. I wasn't where I was supposed to _be_. _Yugi rests his hands on her shoulders and rests his forehead against hers, hating it that she can't feel his touch, hating that she can't see him._ Please forgive me._

Grandpa is the most solemn and dignified of the group. He stares down into the dark mouth of the grave, one hand resting lightly on the shoulder of his weeping daughter. I'm not the one who should be standing here! his eyes accuse. _You_ should be up here mourning _me_. _Grandparents should not be burying their grandchildren! What will I do without you, Yugi?_

Yugi knows they can't feel his touch but he embraces his mother and his grandfather and bows his head against theirs. They are the hardest to leave behind. No one can replace what they are to him as they cannot replace what he is to them. There is only one person here that was his mother, only one person here that was his grandfather.

_Was, was, was. I'm past tense now._

Yugi notices that his father is not there. He realizes with a regrettable jolt of irritation that he does not care. It's a hard pill to swallow: the revelation he does not care that his father has not bothered to attend his own son's funeral. Yugi smiles bitterly. _So I never loved my father and I know now that I am not sorry I didn't. Nothing ventured nothing gained._

His friends are the first to leave. Anzu lingers, touching the headstone, almost as if she is in a daze: she can't believe she's _here_. It takes a gentle yet firm squeeze on the shoulder from Honda to stir her. She looks at him as if she were seeing the young soldier for the first time, before letting out a quiet sigh and nodding. She allows him to lead her away.

Finally only Grandpa and his mother remain. Mrs. Motou presses her fist against her lips. She has not been able to look away from the coffin since the funeral began. In time she too turns to leave, her father's grasp on her elbow the only thing keeping her from stumbling into the grass. Yugi follows behind, trailing, opening and closing his mouth. A desperate panic suddenly fills him as he watches the distance grow between their backs and himself.

_No! Don't go, please! _He cries out, unable to bear it anymore. _Mama, Grandpa, everyone, I'm still here! Turn around, see me, hear me, dammit! Please! _Yugi chases them to their car and stops, his whole bearing slumping as they slip into the vehicle, unseeing, and unhearing. He falls to his knees and sobs as the cars that carry his friends and family disappear.

_What did I do? _He pleads to whatever may be listening and they better listen! _Please tell me what I did, why I have to watch this… To be forced to watch the people I love move on without me, to not be able to talk to anyone or touch anyone ever again? I don't want it. I love my friends, I love my family, and I cannot bear not being able to be there for them but… I can't take this. I can't take not being able to say good bye. _

Yugi tugs at grass he cannot touch and stews in his anguish, cursing, and struggling to keep it together. The sound of a car door opening stills him and Yugi looks up. One car has not pulled out. In fact, he remembers seeing this car pull up much earlier, only no one had emerged from it. Someone is stepping out from the driver's side now and Yugi's mouth slowly falls open in astonishment. He stares at the tall, brown-haired young man in a black suit as he crosses the green, heading toward the open grave. Yugi follows him, the shock enveloping his spirit almost numbing.

The young man stops and stares down into the hole impassively, as if it were another card in his duel deck. Curiously Yugi looks around and up at his face. There is an emotion in those blue eyes he cannot fathom. He wonders if Kaiba finds any humor in knowing while he never was able to win back his King of Games status from Yugi, at least he was able to outlive him.

"I suppose it was only fitting," Kaiba says aloud with his usual dry brand of arrogance, tempered only by his oddly soft tone. "Only you and that alter ego of yours could have gotten out of a rematch with me like this. If there really is an afterlife you haven't heard the last of me, Yugi. You haven't thwarted me yet by halfway."

Gladdened for the first time all during this horrible day, Yugi folds his arms and smirks. _I certainly hope not, Kaiba. _

Kaiba reaches into his jacket and pulls out a Duel Monsters card. He looks at it for a moment with a fond look on his face before flicking it smartly into the grave with an indifferent grunt. Then he shoves both hands into his pockets and turns his back.

"Good bye Yugi."

Yugi does not watch him go. Instead he peers into the grave curious as to what card Kaiba had thrown in. His mouth falls open again.

Nestled on top of the white roses and green leaves is Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

Yugi's head snaps up in renewed bewilderment. Why would Kaiba willingly part with his Blue Eyes?! It doesn't make any sense. Yugi lifts his hand to call out to Kaiba, then smiles, lowering it. He can't hear me. Enlivened by this knowledge, Yugi jumps to his feet and shouts after him, his tone and gestures arrogant and haughty yet joyful, even as tears stream down his face. _Any place, any time Kaiba! I'm not done with you either! _He pauses to drag his arm across his eyes. _Count on it, _he adds more quietly. Falling silent once more, he smiles again, speaking more softly at the retreating man's back. _Thank you... To have meant something to someone like you after all that we went through and all that I know you are, I…I appreciate it. _Sigh. _Good bye Seto._

For a long time, Yugi does not move from where he stands, surrounded by the markers of the formerly living, untouched by the sunshine and unacknowledged by the wind through the trees and grass. Gradually he turns back toward his grave waiting for the cemetery staff who will come later to fill it in with dirt. When that happens, the man that was Yugi Motou will truly be forever separated from the world of the living and belong only to the darkness of eternal slumber. It sounds almost romantic when he puts it like that and he can't help a ghostly chuckle at the thought.

_Maybe we've been going about this life and death business all wrong, _Yugi muses, gazing up at the sky, the same unspoiled blue it was the day of his death. His sly expression is of one who is sharing a secret. _Maybe you start to live only after you've died. I love what I had in that life… I just wish, _a sigh, _I just wish I _knew_ what I'm supposed to do with my eternity. Don't suppose anyone up there could give me a few pointers? Or maybe I'm asking the wrong guys? _Yugi points to the ground and then shrugs. _I guess I could challenge the devil to a few rounds of Duel Monsters. _

_Oh you wouldn't want to do that, _a warm voice suddenly speaks up ahead of Yugi causing him to gasp, his head snapping up straight with a wide-eyed jerk. _That bastard cheats._

The owner of the voice is leaning over behind Yugi's headstone, his crazy crown of gold and red-black spikes tilted to the side in perpetual amusement. His tan, slender arms drape far too casually over the top of the grave marker. He's decked out in a purple cloak and more gold on his person than the entire cast of _Cleopatra_. His narrow crimson eyes are alive, alight with a familiar regal arrogance offset by the sly smirk stretching across his lips.

Yugi is barely able to speak. _Atemu? _

The Pharaoh winks. _Were you expecting someone else? _He softens as he takes in the sight of his beloved partner and his smirk becomes a gentle smile. _Hello aibou. _

No longer able to bear the distance, Yugi starts to rush forward, and stops again abruptly, unsure.

Atemu chuckles. _It's all right. _Yugi still hesitates, looking doubtful. _Trust me. I'm really here._

It's enough. Yugi abandons his composure and before he can fully fathom what has happened, he has Atemu in his arms. The other is hugging back tightly, and Yugi is inundated with more sensations than he can process. He's so warm and real and he can feel him in his arms, against his body, knowing that it's _him_, they're _together_, and he's here… he's really, really _here_. It's too much. Yugi tries to hold back his tears and fails miserably.

_I can't say I'm happy to see you so soon before you were able to live the full life I hoped you would have had, _whispers Atemu so close to his ear. _But I would be lying if I said that I'm not happy to see you again._

Yugi draws back to look his other self in the face, reaching out to touch his cheek, thrilling when Atemu accepts the touch. _I missed you so much, mou hitori no boku. _

_I know. I'm sorry I was so late in coming for you. You were left to wander for far too long._

_Why? _

A shadow passes over Atemu, his expression troubled. _I was… delayed. The darkness I took on willingly kept me between worlds. I could remain with my family but other than that, there's little leeway allowed for someone like me. You were not ready and could not accept your death so long as you weren't able to let go I did not have the power to go to you. You… you believed you had no place at my side. _Atemu is pained and he bows his head, his sorrow too great to be hidden. _I couldn't reach you._

Deeply dismayed, Yugi grips his partner's arms desperately. To think that Atemu wanted to reach him, had tried to reach him, and couldn't because he, Yugi, wasn't letting him…! _No, it's not like that! I mean, I thought it, yes, but I was hoping it wasn't true! I just didn't think I was good enough to…_

Atemu draws back sharply, his glare almost accusing yet sad. _Aibou, without you, I would not have become what I am now. I knew _nothing_ before you found me. I _was_ nothing. You gave me so much more than I could have possibly deserved as a spirit with no name and no memories. It was I who was not good enough, aibou. _

Yugi gazes at him, in wonder, in disbelief. _How can you say that? Do you know what you are to me? Who you'll always be? _

This time Atemu is the one who reaches out to Yugi and touches his face. _I do. I always have. I guess… I suppose I always had a hard time believing it. _He rubs the back of his neck, and if Yugi believed it were possible, he seems sheepish. _Maybe I don't believe in what I need to believe all the time but I've always believed in you. _

Yugi simply smiles and takes his Pharaoh's hand – yes, _his_ Pharaoh – and laces their fingers together. _Right back at you, mou hitori no boku._

Atemu gazes at Yugi and in his eyes are so many emotions it is wonderful and frightening to look at him. _I love you, aibou. _

Unable to respond with words, Yugi instead pulls the other forward and embraces him fiercely. This is what heaven feels like… no… this is what heaven _is_.

_Did you really duel the devil? _he manages through a sob. _Did you win?_

_Don't I always? _

Yugi laughs through his tears. Light encompasses their joined forms as the rest of the mortal world fades away.

He doesn't remember how it happens, or even what it feels like, but he remembers who he sees after it's over. Who he still sees… who he will _always_ see.

* * *

_There's an ocean between us.  
You know where to find me._

--"Only an Ocean Away" Sarah Brightman


End file.
